JAPAN: Noble Expiation

During the
past two years many a sympathetic traveler has paused before the tall
barred gates of a great mansion in Yamaguchi (Western Japan). Its
blinds have remained closely drawn. Within Masataro Namba, head of that
once proud family, has lived with his brothers and their families in a
retirement scarcely less secluded than that of the grave. Until a year
ago, their aged father, once a member of the Imperial Diet, shared this
seclusion with them, then died of brief. . . .